John and Kylee

December 1st started out with fast Sunday. I had a tender experience that day. I had the idea from the podcast, and I really prayed to have the Holy Spirit with me, and whenever I had a hard moment I pictured him there right next to me. It made a huge difference in the peace I felt. I was able to have more self control and love for those around me.

December 1st also was the official start to our advent activities. We started with our kick off party. We read a couple of Christmas stories on the ipad, decorated the tree, started the countdown candle, and gave the kids the matching jammies. John didn't want any this year, but I couldn't resist a pair for me. We got a cute pouch hanger for our advent papers this year. I decorated it with greenery and ribbon. I thought it ended up being really nice.

I love doing the advent. I mean, it makes our holiday season truly crazy, but it is also so fun. We are deliberately choosing family fun and connection during this holiday time. We always try to add some unique activities each year, but we also have our favorites we do every year. One that is always more fun than you'd think is the Candy Cane Hunt. Darcy kept exclaiming that she was so good at finding tricky hiding spots.

We always try to include a "Remember _____ Day" to remember the fun trips we went on this year. Remember Boston Day was amazing. We dressed in our Boston shirts, ate pizza and gelato, watched Liberty Kids, and watched videos from the trip. It was jam packed and just delightful.

This is what we did for advent in 2024.

Su Dec 1. Advent Kick Off - PJ’s, story, 25 Days of Christ, candle
M Dec 2. (MCO practice) orange day - two orange candies
Tu Dec 3. Candy cane hunt
W Dec 4. (YW) Remember Boston day - liberty's kids, pizza, gelato, photos
Th Dec 5. (Caldera party) Christmas nails
F Dec 6. Christmas karaoke
S Dec 7. Italian sodas—4 flavors
Su Dec 8. 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional
M Dec 9. (MCO practice) Donate to a charity
Tu Dec 10. (Miriam concert - not attend) Belgian cookies and shop for sister gifts
W Dec 11. Miriam concert - attend
Th Dec 12. (Ellie swim meet) Maple day—popcorn, 2 maple cookies
F Dec 13. Christmas dance party
S Dec 14. (MCO in morning) Prepare neighbor gifts and Christmas movie
Su Dec 15. Deliver neighbor gifts and French Fries
M Dec 16. (MCO concerts) Fancy oatmeal day—raspberries and figs
Tu Dec 17. MCO concerts - attend
W Dec 18. (MCO concerts - volunteer) Gratitude day - say 10 things
Th Dec 19. (Ellie swim meet) Snowball Fight Inside
F Dec 20. Facials—face masks
S Dec 21. Candlelit dinner
Su Dec 22. (Pearson dinner) Become a candy cane—body scrub and body butter
M Dec 23. Kylee’s Birthday
Tu Dec 24. Christmas Eve: rice pudding, Christmas story, nativity
W Dec 25. Christmas Day: presents and family dinner
Th Dec 26. Sleepover Around the Tree
F Dec 27. Breakfast in bed
S Dec 28. Remember Costa Rica day
Su Dec 29. Christmas music game night
M Dec 30. Ice skating (3-5 time frame!) (except we never did this one for some reason, life got in the way!)
Tu Dec 31. New Years Eve Party

I remember laying under the Christmas tree and looking up when I was a kid. It was so magical, and now it is cute to see my kids do the same thing!

Jammies box!

All cozy for Christmas!

Orange Day! Wear orange and eat orange things!

Candy Cane Hunt

Holland built this sleigh at school

Darcy in her own audiobook world while coloring every millimeter

Gingerbread nativity building activity at YW

Sleigh building champion!

We went to the Caldera Christmas Party! These are always a little awkward, so when we got an opportunity to enter a sleigh building contest, I told John to sign us up mainly so we wouldn't have to make conversation with the coworkers at our table longer.

Well, it was a bit more than we thought it would be. We had to sit at a table in front on everyone with only 4 other couples. We were given a bunch of ingredients and a rubric for different attributes we were supposed to be going for. And we were given a few minutes to create it in, maybe 10? Then the judges came by and dissected the creations. To our surprise we won the contest! I think they gave us like $200 combined as the reward. It was crazy. One funny other consequence was that our photo was the first and biggest in the company Christmas card.

The next day we really lived it up by cleaning out the garage. Man, that gets dirty so fast, and it is actually quite satisfying to clean. We are so cool. :) We followed it up the next day by playing a lot of board games from the library (Lost Cities and the Fairy Game). Darcy was so into the Fairy Game and saving the garden from Mr. Winter. It reminded us a lot of the Rainbow Magic books which of course is right up Darcy's alley too.

The next day was Miriam's school choir concert. There were lovely and festive songs. I love how happy she looked up there! It was remarkable that she was even able to perform. Her teacher announced that the Christmas concert dates in an email a few weeks before, and it was the same nights as the MCO concerts! This was so sad. Miriam is in acapella this year! This is her big year with the school choir, but there is no way she is missing the MCO concert for the semester. She ended up emailing her teacher and asked if there was any way that the concert could be moved to a different day. And it worked! I don't know if there were other people asking too, but the teacher ended up moving it. It was such a relief!

During the craziness of December Eliza was also doing swim team. One meet she hit a PR with 5 seconds off her 200 Free. Five seconds is huge! So proud of her. It is always so exciting to cheer her on.

Of course there are also a lot of good sales this time of year. We hit up the body care day at Bath and Body Works. We stocked up for birthday gifts, and it made for a sweet smelling day. Miriam was fun and giddy to go with. We also went to her brace appointment that day and everything looks good! Such a blessing that the brace is working!

The next day I had another day with Miriam! We went to Taste and had the best sipping and iced chocolate. We did a quick game of Love Letter and then got kicked out because they were closing. Miriam talked me into going to the mall where we got an even better deal at Bath and Body Works and had so much fun looking around JCPenney. We got some great cheaper jewelry for Christmas.

Holland and Daddy went out to the Riverwoods to see lights and got a fancy cookie to share. Love going out with our kids one on one.

Next was our first MCO concert day! It was kind of fun to get all the kids from school. We got everyone ready, ate lunch (while discussing the health benefits of walnuts...there are many), and headed up to SLC. John and I had fun planning our trip to Paris while everyone was gone. The following day we attended the concert which was outstanding! God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Oh Holy Night were my favorites. Darcy sang so cute even with the lights in her eyes. She was definitely a beat behind everyone else in the actions, but she was unbelievably darling!

The next day John found out about his bonus and raise. It was his best one ever--$25,000. Plus the raise was really generous too. Times like this make us really like Caldera.

Christmas nails!

Christmas Karaoke

Daddy Daughter Date with Holland

Italian Ice Days

John is the best dad!

Christmas Devotional

Our little girl looks so grown up with her hair all pulled back

Maple Day! We had a rubric to vote which was the best.

Ellie's name is on the scoreboard!

This was kind of amazing

Body day and Bath and Body Works!

Date with Miriam - Yummy and Brief!

Darcy mastered this puzzle

A few funny quotes from Darcy this month:

John was hanging up Eliza's swimsuit stuff, and Darcy called to him. "Daddy, are you in there playing with your swimsuits?"

Darcy to me, "Do you want to come kiss me under this?" (the mistletoe)

"That must be Joseph praying at the Waters of Mormon."

"If you say 'that's one' it will make me patisipate. Patisipate means focus."

It made me laugh when I asked Darcy if she tooted and made it stinky. She just smiled, noddled, and gave me a thumbs up.

"The more I eat the hungrier and hungrier I get."

"If you can't beat them, join them."

"I love you from the beginning of the west to the end of the East."

"Do we have any money in the shape of ponytails?" She was so proud that we had matching pony tails while we exercised one morning.

While playing with the nativity one day, "When are we going to meet Mary? She's awesome!"

"Mommy my life would be so much easier if you and Daddy were the same. You didn't have to work. Daddy didn't have to work. And we just got money from the TV."

"I would rather have 7 sisters and no mom and dad." Ouch.

"I want my hands on cookies right now! Sauce means I am feeling good!"

One day we were delivering neighbor gifts for Christmas and ran into Steve Cowles. Darcy asked him, "Are you delivering neighbor gifts?" He explained that they do a donation instead. Miriam quietly responded that we do a donation and neighbor gifts.

"The only thing that is wrong with Dragon Masters is that the dragons aren't real or maybe they all die?"

"Remember that special time when Miriam, Holland, and me and you were all in the shower together?" What??

"The best part of Christmas is spending time together, having fun, and kissing you a lot!"

"Mommy, do I have a ring finger?" When looking at John's wedding ring.

"How long did it take you to set up our house? It must have been a lot of work!"

"When was I supposed to go to be? Now? I am like really tired!"

E: See you next year!

D: Are we both going to be kindergarteners?

MCO curls!

Cheesecake factory after the concert!

Snowball fight!

Candle lite dinner on the Winter Solstice

Primary singers!

The orchid blossoms!

When my mom died Cherilee and Jess gave me an orchid. It was blooming when they gave it to me and now almost 1.5 years later it bloomed again! Such a delicate white flower. I didn't know it then, but these blooms lasted so long. We ended up with 19 flowers on this orchid and they didn't drop until May. Amazing!!!

Holland told me about how she made a paper stocking at school. She wrote all of her Christmas wishes on it. In the area about her parents, she said she just wanted her parents to be happy. This was sweet, but I bet if anyone read that they would be concerned for us.

Christmas Sunday was just lovely. I loved all of the musical numbers, but especially Darcy singing with the Primary. She knew every word! It was such a restful nice day at home together. Darcy's primary teachers gave her a little nativity puzzle, and she probably did it 50 times over the next couple of weeks. She needed help the first couple of times, but quickly figured out how to do it herself. She was so proud of herself!

The next day was my birthday! 38! It was such a nice day. We had a spa day in the morning with my girls. We did body scrub, facials, and nails. This turned into a dance party in our bathrobes. Later we played pickleball at the church and had shrimp scampi for dinner. I got lots of presents including a dress that the girls surprised me with. They had bought it at the mall with their own money. What sweethearts! I am so so lucky to have my family. Life isn't perfect. I am often overwhelmed with never-ending tasks. Not even the normal life tasks, but our to do just keeps more and more tasks on it. I am frustrated with myself and others pretty regularly. My body doesn't always feel or look the way I want it to. Even though there are some harder realities of life, I have to say that I never dreamed life would be so good at 38. I fiercely love my people. I am happy and healthy, and I am sad and sick, but mostly happy and healthy. What a gift!

Christmas Eve was such a happy day. Pickleball and good food (lasagna, caprese salad, regular salad, and rice pudding which I won :) ). Dad visiting and playing Merry Bells (we're getting pretty good!). Musical performances, the Nativity, setting up the presents all beautifully. I honestly think I like it better than Christmas day.

Christmas Day was a delight. We really took our time opening presents which was so nice. We didn't conclude opening presents until 1:20 with a break for brunch. Darcy loved all of her presents and new toys but gave the biggest squeal at the candy in her stocking. Same with the big girls, except their best reaction was to the book stickers we got them. Holland probably loved the digital pet the most. It was supposed to be the 'it' toy for the season, and it went over pretty well. I loved picking out a couple of ties for John this year. I got him a nice floral that is cream and pink and a black and white saguaro one. I received mostly things that I asked for, but I really liked all of the stuff I picked out. :) That evening we went to Kayla's and enjoyed a sausage breakfast for dinner. Her hashbrown casserole was amazing. It probably had a lot of cream in it. :) She surprised us all with handmade baskets, because of course she did. They are gorgeous and made from mom's cut fabric. We obviously didn't put nearly that amount of work into our gift to Marc and Miriam (a portable projector). I hope they can use it though.

Spa morning for my birthday!

Ellie dishing up chocolate, not a common sight!

This was a brownie, candy cane, cheesecake, whipped cream layered dessert. It was too much to be honest. Oh well!

Fancy Christmas Eve Dinner

Loved this salad

Christmas concert

All ready!

So eager!

Miriam gave Darcy a 'Baby Grey' to match Poppy the Penguin

Darcy's favorite presents!

That squishmallow was bigger than I thought it would be!

New phone case and pop socket

The day after Christmas we still had our advent going. Darcy was so excited to do the sleepover around the Christmas Tree. She was chatty, happy, and beeming. That same day John got our new microwave installed in record time, and even set up to vent outside. This has been on our list since we moved into the house. Because of the gas stove we want to have venting when the stove is on. I am so grateful that he works so hard for us at home and at his job. I am the luckiest to have him.

Christmas break was so nice. Games, pickleball, being together with my girls. I am the luckiest to have them too. I love playing games as a family. Darcy is often my helper/buddy. She is so cute it hurts. We got a new handball game at Christmas, and I love playing it, especially with Holland. I love her bright smile. She has been doing so much better at her chores the last while. During the break I also really loved listening to Miriam play her clarinet. She is so impressive.

The Sunday after Christmas I really enjoyed the meetings. I felt inspired to try to think about how to keep my covenants better, and how my goals should help me to do better at that. Now (months later) I should still think about that. It seems so obvious, but goals can go all over the place. It should come from a place of love though--to yourself and others.

Plant shopping with Miriam the next day was so fun. She is enthusiastic and called each plant, 'epic.' She is definitely way too encouraging when it comes to buying plants. She told me that she isn't going to give her kids phones until high school, even though she having a phone in middle school is fine. We'll see, huh?

New Years Eve is my favorite. All the girls cuddling in the bed in the morning is so nice until Darcy starts crying that she wants me to herself. Sweet girl. I love, LOVE, the NYE party we do every year. I loved that this year we really reflected on the year. We're so blessed. The girls are the best. I love playing at home with them.